Attorneys
Guidelines for Virtual Courtroom Proceedings
The 22nd Judicial Circuit’s Committee on Guidelines for a Virtual Courtroom has compiled the following guidelines and recommendations for appearing in court remotely. These guidelines are intended to assist judicial officers in conducting proceedings remotely.
FREE McHenry Circuit Clerk Attorney Access Portal
The McHenry Circuit Clerk Attorney Access Portal is a free program which provides attorney access to public McHenry County cases. Case information and the scanned public court documents are both available. The McHenry Circuit Clerk Attorney Access Portal also provides a calendar function which allows attorneys to view all scheduled court dates on cases where they are the attorney of record and provides links to daily court calls for each courtroom and provides online scheduling for attorneys in some courtrooms.
Attorney E-mail Notification Service (requires Attorney Access Portal)
Attorneys can sign up for the McHenry County Circuit Clerk E-Mail Notification Service and receive E-mail notification whenever a document is filed on a case with an appearance on file. This is a FREE service that only requires an Attorney Access Portal account. Each attorney or firm can have one or multiple E-mail addresses listed to receive the automatic notifications which also include links to the documents filed.
Attorney Registration
The McHenry County Circuit Clerk does not issue unique Attorney Registration numbers. Please include your ARDC number on any filings per Local Rule 3.01. Attorneys should use the following forms for change of address, change of firm, firm name changes or to register a new firm, if you do a large amount of work in McHenry County. We do not require an attorney to register with the Circuit Clerk before appearing in McHenry County. Registration forms can be emailed to [email protected].
Proposed Orders
The Circuit Clerk’s Office does not accept the filing of proposed orders. 22nd Circuit Court Administration provides email addresses that can be utilized to submit proposed or agreed Civil & Family Division orders to the Court.
Email Civil Division proposed orders to [email protected]
Email Family Division proposed orders to [email protected]
For more information and the guidelines for submission of proposed or agreed orders, see the 22nd Circuit Court website.
W-9 Requirement for IRS
The Circuit Clerk is required to collect W-9 forms from all Attorneys/Firms that receive bond refunds in excess of $600 per calendar year. If you or your firm receives bond refunds in excess of $600 annually complete the W-9 form located below. All forms should be returned to the Circuit Clerk in Room 136 or emailed to [email protected].
Subscription Remote Access Program
The Circuit Clerk offers a paid subscription Remote Access Program which allows access to the Circuit Clerk’s case management and document management systems. The biggest difference between the paid subscription program and the free program is that the subscription program offers access to all public cases, and also provides more complete party information and searching capabilities than the free Attorney Access Portal.
2022 Case Type Changes
The Supreme Court implemented major changes to the Circuit Clerk’s Manual on Recordkeeping effective January 1, 2022. These changes included new Case Types (i.e. EV – Eviction, FC – Foreclosure, GR – Guardianship, MT – Major Traffic and more), expanded instructions for impounding cases, standardization to the case number format across the state, and more.
Summary of Case Type Changes
PowerPoint from December 15, 2022 meeting